Portland visit...PNW Quilt Exp Sept 2011

Warning....the following could...

 be hazardous to your eyes,

 and...keep you from doing something "important".

But, if you dare...grab a drink, take a comfortable seat

and scroll on!

This was the first thing of interest when I landed

at the Portland Airport.  Can You guess what it is?

Nope, this is NOT a Mystery Monday question =P

I've never seen one of these before...it's a great idea tho!

It's directions for flushing the toilet in the public restroom.

I was all prepared for the auto flush...which, BTW,

I really dislike hate.  This is a great water saving

idea...AND, I get to control when I flush too...YES!

Very nice public transportation drops you right at the

airport.  Or takes you to the city to junctions to transfer

to other locations.  Even, nicer tho...is to have a

sweet friend who lives in your destination area and

picks you up at the curb and chauffeurs you all around!

Thanks, Mursie!

I LUV the skylights everywhere at the airport.

And, Portland weather welcomed me with

my FAVORITE...

"cloudy with a chance of drizzle"

(this is the parking lot at the Portland Expo center)

and...we enter for the quilt show excited

for the Fabric/Quilt Feast!

In the entry...

This view could be multiplied 3 times...I just don't have

a wide-view/panoramic type camera.  There were lots

of quilts hanging and quite a few raffle quilts by Oregon

Quilt Guilds and other charities.

This was a fun booth...lots of pretty Asian things.

A cool animal quilt.

Do you like the Twister quilts...using the

TWISTER template?

How about a mini Twister? Yep, there is

a template for this weee one too!

View down an isle of quilts and booths.

I really thought this quilt was interesting as I stood afar

to take the picture...then, even more...

interesting as I got up close....raw edges, free flowing

quilt design and uniquely dyed fabrics.

My friends talk over decisions about purchases.

Animal...fabrics/designs were quite apparent

throughout the quilt expo.  This one caught my eye

with a wavy half-square triangle using animal prints.

and...up close was really cool too!

I was excited to see Pendleton Woolen Mills booth.

Why?...Well, I'm kind of into wool-eee stuff too.

Here's a sheep-eee puppet sitting atop of

some beautiful wool fabrics

How about a folding chair covered with

wool felted design?  kinda cool...

a "celery" cat applique

This one is made from wedding dresses

pretty, unique dyed fabrics...

 

 

We finally took a break to eat after 5 hours of

drooling over all the quilt-eee things to see and buy.

But,  I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't anything

healthy to eat besides,

 a very small pre-packed salad $6.50.  Is this typical

for most quilt shows?  It's mostly what I've seen at

the quilt shows I've attended.  Would it be hard to

have fresh fruit (maybe not even precut) and/or

raw vegetables and low calorie dip option?

Or what about simple (not premade) sub sandwiches?

Getting down off my soapbox...with a sigh...

maybe I'm the only one thinking this way. =(

On the positive side...MORE quilts!

Petty designed fabric with "shine" and glitz...

What would YOU make with these?

A Fall themed wall hanging or...small lap quilt?

 

This quilt wasn't so striking from far away...

but,

...up close, the machine embroidery was

really pretty. 

The following two pictures are of the

First Place Large Quilt....

Beautiful...colors, lots of curved and small

pieces!  I would hate to be a judge of quilts...

OH-meee/OH-my...there are always so

many uniquely beautiful quilts.  It would be

so hard to pick just a few to give ribbons to.

There were several booths with stitchery items

This is one of my favorites!

A fun quilt...good way to use lots of green

scraps...yep, this is on my (albeit, long) list

of quilts to make.

This was a booth that was jamm-packed with quilty/sewing

gifty items.  I could've spent OOODLES in here...but,

I restrained myself to just a few things.  I'd already

spent some $$ on fabrics and I was going to

the Fiber Festival the next few days.

In total there were (I think) 79 merchant booths!

We checked into our hotel about 6pm.

This is the view from the floor that our room was on.

The tables below is where we had our free breakfast

each morning.

We were so tired from travel, and quilt show

walking...that we decided to have dinner at the

hotel's dinning room.

This relaxing indoor waterfall was right near

our dinner table. 

One of my friends made "boots"

with our napkins! You are sooo clever, Ivana!

After dinner, we...three friends went up to

the hotel room and shared our "pirate's booty"

and talked about the fun day before going to sleep.

Hope you all aren't asleep by now...after looking at

so much quilty "jibbberish"!

What's YOUR favorite thing about quilt shows?

Did you like any of the quilty things in my pictures?

or...are your eyes too tired and you've already spent

too much time to take time to leave a comment?  =P